It is common in the field of transport refrigeration to independently control the temperature of served spaces in two or more compartments of a trailer from a single main refrigeration unit, called the host unit. For example, a trailer may carry a frozen load in a front compartment, which is controlled by the host unit mounted on the front of the trailer, and fresh loads in one or more remote compartments which are controlled by remote evaporators connected to the host unit. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,685,306 and 4,711,095, which are assigned to the same assignee as the present application, illustrate detailed refrigeration and electrical circuits for compartmentalized transport refrigeration systems, and these patents are hereby incorporated into the specification of the present application by reference.
In the prior art a housing having one open side is provided, and the refrigerant and electrical components of the remote evaporators are all assembled within the housing. A cover is then removably secured to the open side of the housing. When a user receives a remote evaporator for installation, the housing must be opened by removing the cover, in order to make refrigerant and electrical connections to the evaporator assembly.
For proper air circulation as well as for reducing intrusion into useful cargo space, it is desirable to mount the remote evaporator on the ceiling of the associated compartment. For installing and servicing prior art ceiling mounted units, the cover, which is on the bottom of the housing, must be removed, and all of the components are directly overhead, making it awkward to work on the inside of the unit.
It would be desirable, and it is an object of the present invention to improve the manufacturing, installation and servicing of remote evaporator units for transport refrigeration systems.